Gearing up for Game 2: Kesler says Thornton wanted to drop gloves, those Green Men and Demers doesn’t skate

Ryan Kesler shared with the world that Joe Thornton challenged him to fight when the two were tossed from the opening faceoff.

And Thornton, said, yep, he did just that.

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My colleague Mark Purdy will be column-izing on that later, but here’s how the story developed. Kesler was holding court with a half-dozen or so reporters. We asked him about playing against Thornton in general, then about the display at the start of the game, when the two of them jousted their way out of the opening faceoff.

“I don’t know what he was trying to do there, but I’m not intimidated by him and I’m not going to be,” Kesler said. “He’s a good player. No one scares me on the ice. I played against Shea Weber and that beard last round. Nothing’s going to scare me on the ice. He can play me any way he wants to, but I’m going to play the same game on the ice.”

Then he was asked what Thornton said to him just as the puck was dropping between the sticks of two other players.

“He was asking me to fight,” Kesler said. “I laughed at him.”

Later, Thornton was on the podium and one of the reporters told him what Kesler had said. The Sharks captain confirmed it was accurate and when he was asked why, replied: “Why not?”

Later he expanded that slightly when asked what he said.

“Let’s fight. Let’s start the series off with a bang. That’s about it.”

Was Thornton surprised when Kesler declined?

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“No.”

*****I would have been here earlier, but there were logistical issues and the boss needed something else from me first. It’s a story on the Green Men and it should be posted in the near future so I won’t get into that here other than to say that the Sharks who sat next to those guys during Game 1 seemed to enjoy the antics.

“We’re in the entertainment industry and I think they’re hilarious,” Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray said. “I get a kick out of them.”

The Green Men said they also had a nice exchange with Ben Eager.

According to one of the two guys, Eager “said, “I hope you’re making some money off of this because you look like idiots.’ We said, ‘Yes, we agree with you, Ben, we do.’ ”

Eager said that wasn’t exactly how he remembered it, but, yeah, he was having fun with them.

*****Jason Demers was the only Shark who did not practice today. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means as far as his availability for Game 2.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Great article on The Linkster!! Too bad he flamed out so soon.
I was at the Cow dump Palace the night (among many othewrs) for the Probert fight.
Greatest hockey fight I’ve ever seen live.
Check it at hockeyfights.com
Go SHARKS!!!
Everyone on board tonight….full speed ahead.
Bring your Lunch pail boys!!!!

Vantastic

Edler is going to squish Clowe like a grape.

hockeyrocks

#102 Vantastic “Edler is going to squish Clowe like a grape.”

Hmmm…Edler, Edler…that name rings a bell. Oh yes, Edler was the Dman who started off great in Game 1 against the Hawks recording 7 hits and then the rest of the series, he fizzled – no impact, MIA actually.

Then in Round 2 Edler really outdid himself for a “memorable” playoff effort – in Game 5 he was the Preds’ Assassin against Luongo, scoring 1 goal by gloving the puck past Lou into the net and then assisting on a 2nd goal by mis-handling the puck with his stick.

No offense, but I think Edler needs to focus his energies on being a decent Dman, who does not score on his own goalie, and basic stuff like that rather than trying “to squish Ryane Clowe like a grape.”

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